Is God a despot ?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2812-despot-is-god-a-despot
God created us to share Himself with us. Far from being a selfish megalomaniac, God is a selfless, giving, omnibenevolent God. His greatest act of benevolent love was witnessed at Calvary in the Person of Jesus Christ as He sought to rescue us from the consequences of this macabre, marked world. It was there at Golgotha that Christ shared in our suffering to atone for our sins. And it wasn’t out of His need. It was out of ours.
God, being maximally great, must have omniscience.
Omniscience demands objective perspective because subjectivity is a result of partial knowledge and understanding.
Objective omniscience means that God will be able to discern what is good at all times in all possible scenarios. It doesn’t just allow for it, it logically demands it.
Humans with free will run the world. Free will is a necessary good, because it is the only thing from which personhood can be made. So the real problem is mankind, not God, and what we do with our free will.
Every good parent takes risks in allowing their kids the freedom to learn and do new things. Your child will sometime fall when learning to walk and will face even greater risks as he grows and learns. God tells what is good and how to live, but we choose whether to do good or evil. God commands us to not do evil but he doesn't put us in restraints so that we can't do evil. He did give government to punish evil and cause evil people to constrain themselves. Ultimately God created us to be in a loving relationship, but all love is voluntary. It has to be so. To be able to choose love we also have to have the ability to choose to hate.
• God is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:24)
• God is omniscient (Psalm 147:4-5)
• God is omnipotent (Jeremiah 32:17; Psalm 135:6)
• God is Spirit (John 4:24)
• God is in a league of His own (Isaiah 46:9)
• God is immortal and invisible (1 Timothy 1:17)
• God is the Creator (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16)
• God is unchanging (Malachi 3:6)
• God is sovereign (Psalm 115:3)
• God is One, yet He exists in three persons (Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
• God is loving (John 3:16; 1 John 4:8 )
• God is gracious and merciful (Jonah 4:2; Deuteronomy 4:31)
• God is righteous (Psalm 11:7)
• God is holy (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16)
• God is just (Deuteronomy 32:4; Isaiah 30:18)
• God is forgiving (1 John 1:9)
• God is compassionate (James 5:11)
1. Christianity is not about a God who arbitrarily makes rules that we have to follow.
2. Christianity is not about a God who enjoys forcing His will on His creation like some narcissistic despot.
3. Christianity does not bring bondage.
4. Christianity is not about a God who says I don't care what you do; do whatever you want.
1. Christianity teaches us of a God who made us, loves us, and wants us to flourish.
2. Christianity teaches us of a God who gives us guidelines so that we can flourish and enjoy fellowship with Him and one another forever!
3. Christianity frees us to be what we were made to be.
4. Christianity teaches us of a God who cares about what we do because He knows what's best and He knows we don't.
God has revealed himself as good, just, righteous, merciful and graceful. Both Lord Jahweh of the Old Testament and Jesus of the NT condemn those who deliberately choose evil, but show boundless mercy to those who are weak and full of remorse. 3 people who do not want to have anything to do with God, will get exactly what they want. They will escape having anything to do with God — forever. This is the everlasting death. Since God is the source of love, and they will be disconnected from this source through spiritual death, it will probably be a dark and dreary existence, lasting forever. This seems like a terrible punishment, one that God does not dispense with pleasure. Quite the reverse, it is a consequence, not by God's choice, but by our choices and actions. So God is not contradictory when it comes to evil. It is written that God hates evil, and this applies both to God revealed in OT and God revealed in NT. The punishment talked about in NT is probably much more terrifying than the physical death, but seems more remote than physical punishment. In OT punishment often occur through other peoples.
Is God immoral because these rules are so hard? No. The Law doesn’t make us bad any more than it makes us good. The Law reveals our inability to be righteous on our own. The Law points us to our Savior. But we reject the Savior. We say God is immoral when He upholds His impossible laws, yet we are upset when He extends grace to rescue us from our dire situation. We choose to remain dead in our trespasses and blame our Creator for our sins. God then offers us salvation and we have the audacity to call him a tyrant.2
1. http://fergyfamforum.blogspot.com/2017/03/is-god-despot.html
2. https://cateritforward.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/is-god-a-tyrant/
3. http://www.gluefox.com/english/krist/problem/gttyrann_en.shtm
Why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1915-why-does-god-allow-evil-and-suffering-in-the-world
Is the God of the Old Testament a merciless monster?
https://carm.org/god-of-old-testament-a-monster
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2812-despot-is-god-a-despot
God created us to share Himself with us. Far from being a selfish megalomaniac, God is a selfless, giving, omnibenevolent God. His greatest act of benevolent love was witnessed at Calvary in the Person of Jesus Christ as He sought to rescue us from the consequences of this macabre, marked world. It was there at Golgotha that Christ shared in our suffering to atone for our sins. And it wasn’t out of His need. It was out of ours.
God, being maximally great, must have omniscience.
Omniscience demands objective perspective because subjectivity is a result of partial knowledge and understanding.
Objective omniscience means that God will be able to discern what is good at all times in all possible scenarios. It doesn’t just allow for it, it logically demands it.
Humans with free will run the world. Free will is a necessary good, because it is the only thing from which personhood can be made. So the real problem is mankind, not God, and what we do with our free will.
Every good parent takes risks in allowing their kids the freedom to learn and do new things. Your child will sometime fall when learning to walk and will face even greater risks as he grows and learns. God tells what is good and how to live, but we choose whether to do good or evil. God commands us to not do evil but he doesn't put us in restraints so that we can't do evil. He did give government to punish evil and cause evil people to constrain themselves. Ultimately God created us to be in a loving relationship, but all love is voluntary. It has to be so. To be able to choose love we also have to have the ability to choose to hate.
• God is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:24)
• God is omniscient (Psalm 147:4-5)
• God is omnipotent (Jeremiah 32:17; Psalm 135:6)
• God is Spirit (John 4:24)
• God is in a league of His own (Isaiah 46:9)
• God is immortal and invisible (1 Timothy 1:17)
• God is the Creator (Genesis 1:1; Colossians 1:16)
• God is unchanging (Malachi 3:6)
• God is sovereign (Psalm 115:3)
• God is One, yet He exists in three persons (Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
• God is loving (John 3:16; 1 John 4:8 )
• God is gracious and merciful (Jonah 4:2; Deuteronomy 4:31)
• God is righteous (Psalm 11:7)
• God is holy (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16)
• God is just (Deuteronomy 32:4; Isaiah 30:18)
• God is forgiving (1 John 1:9)
• God is compassionate (James 5:11)
1. Christianity is not about a God who arbitrarily makes rules that we have to follow.
2. Christianity is not about a God who enjoys forcing His will on His creation like some narcissistic despot.
3. Christianity does not bring bondage.
4. Christianity is not about a God who says I don't care what you do; do whatever you want.
1. Christianity teaches us of a God who made us, loves us, and wants us to flourish.
2. Christianity teaches us of a God who gives us guidelines so that we can flourish and enjoy fellowship with Him and one another forever!
3. Christianity frees us to be what we were made to be.
4. Christianity teaches us of a God who cares about what we do because He knows what's best and He knows we don't.
God has revealed himself as good, just, righteous, merciful and graceful. Both Lord Jahweh of the Old Testament and Jesus of the NT condemn those who deliberately choose evil, but show boundless mercy to those who are weak and full of remorse. 3 people who do not want to have anything to do with God, will get exactly what they want. They will escape having anything to do with God — forever. This is the everlasting death. Since God is the source of love, and they will be disconnected from this source through spiritual death, it will probably be a dark and dreary existence, lasting forever. This seems like a terrible punishment, one that God does not dispense with pleasure. Quite the reverse, it is a consequence, not by God's choice, but by our choices and actions. So God is not contradictory when it comes to evil. It is written that God hates evil, and this applies both to God revealed in OT and God revealed in NT. The punishment talked about in NT is probably much more terrifying than the physical death, but seems more remote than physical punishment. In OT punishment often occur through other peoples.
Is God immoral because these rules are so hard? No. The Law doesn’t make us bad any more than it makes us good. The Law reveals our inability to be righteous on our own. The Law points us to our Savior. But we reject the Savior. We say God is immoral when He upholds His impossible laws, yet we are upset when He extends grace to rescue us from our dire situation. We choose to remain dead in our trespasses and blame our Creator for our sins. God then offers us salvation and we have the audacity to call him a tyrant.2
1. http://fergyfamforum.blogspot.com/2017/03/is-god-despot.html
2. https://cateritforward.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/is-god-a-tyrant/
3. http://www.gluefox.com/english/krist/problem/gttyrann_en.shtm
Why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1915-why-does-god-allow-evil-and-suffering-in-the-world
Is the God of the Old Testament a merciless monster?
https://carm.org/god-of-old-testament-a-monster
